It's 18 days, 17 hours, and 48 minutes until I take my first step towards achieving my goal.

 

But I have to admit, I'm scared to death.  Each day I lace up my shoes and start what feels like a never ending chant, "you can do it, you can do it, piece of cake."  I step onto the treadmill or out the door and placing one foot gingerly in front of the other I start to shuffle, lifting my feet a little higher, my shuffle turns to a jog, and about 8 minutes later that odd looking, uneven paced jog bursts into a run. 

Greetings from Mississippi!

I love to run, I truly do, but the thought of running and the act of running terrifies me.  Why?  I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA!  So each day I check my schedule, sometimes 10 or 15 times, to see how far I have to run and then I spend the next couple of hours doing everything in my power not to talk myself out of it.  I have to train - there's no ifs, ands or buts about it.  I will never finish 13.1 miles if I don't train.  And goddamn it, I'm going to finish.  But what is it about me and my personality that allows this thing that I love to terrify me?  Why do I poison a natural high?  I may never know.  What I do know is, it won't stop me.

 Running log updates

(I can't update my Nike+ account from my iPad - work on that Apple!):

Monday	Tuesday	Thursday	Saturday
4.5, 10’39	3.0, 9’42	4.5, 10’14	7.0, 10’52
4.5, 9’58	3.0, 9’36	4.5, 10’05	8, 10’03
5.0, 10’03	3.0, 9’53	5.0, 9’59	6.2, 10’08
5.0, 9’55	3.0, (we’ll see)

 

Should This Goal Usurp my Love Life?

Well friends it's time for the inevitable dating post...oh come on, you can't be surprised?  I'm a single gal, no matter what I get into at some point it's going to cross streams with my love life (no matter how little or large it may be).  So here's my dilemma.  I'm committed to my training schedule and I'm determined to make my April race, easy breezy, lemon squeezy by being over prepared and exceptionally trained.  To achieve my goal I am religious about my training schedule, RUNS ARE NOT missed, if conflicts arise everything but the run be damned...I WILL GET MY MILES IN!!

And that's what happened on Tuesday.  I declined an invitation for Tuesday because I couldn't figure out just how I would meet both commitments.  So, of course, the run won.  It's Friday and as I feared he's asked again, and once again I said, "I'd love to but I have to run."  I wanted to scream...."dear Lord man why aren't you asking me for a Saturday or a Sunday?  I can swing that EASY!!!"  But noooo, so far it's been  a Monday, Tuesday, and now Friday...clearly he's interested but I'm afraid I haven't done my best to shout my scheduling disappointment from the rooftops and this opportunity may have run its course...damn you NWM, damn you!

...but seriously folks, is this my 3 month lot in life?  Must I be a slave to my schedule and bow to the mighty mileage gods?  It seems so unfair.  It's looking like my only dating options are other running/workout fanatics and nothing against y'all and your super fit, super tight bodies, but I'm just not into it.  I want someone different from me, a challenger, someone ready to expose me to something new and frustrating.  I want this "know-it-all" to be stumped and saying over and over and over, "what the hell was that?"  Running, nah...I got that, I'm never excited about the idea of going out running together.

So you tell me, should this goal usurp my love life?  Or is it truly possible to have it all?


WEEK 5 TRAINING UPDATE:
Miles - I'm rocking the outdoor miles!  Thanks to the no-snowquestor this Wednesday, my Saturday 6 mile run should be beautiful.
Health - I've changed my diet, altered my carb/protein intake and portions to better manage long runs.  While I can tell I have more energy during my runs, my GI tract is in turmoil.  I'm hoping my tummy will get used to my new menu by the end of next week.  Given this, I'm a little leery of eating gels on Saturday...
Gear - Well it's burro time, time to start carrying my own water.  I'm headed to City Sports after the gym tonight to find the best carrier for me...belts typically don't fit right, but who knows, maybe the tech's gotten better over the years.  I'll test it on Saturday.